Take-Two: Good is the New Bad

Share.

Feder: "The PS3 with Move, in my view, is the Wii HD system."

By Jim Reilly

Good games simply don't cut it anymore. They have to be great.

That's the point Take-Two CEO Ben Feder drove home during a talk at the Kaufman Brothers, L.P. Investor Conference in New York City today, echoing comments Take Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick made to BusinessWeek at the end of August.

Feder touched on a number of other topics including the company's outlook, digital strategies, and how his son is now too embarrassed to play the Wii.

He started out by highlighted the fact that Take-Two will be profitable for the first time in nearly a decade without a major Grand Theft Auto release, adding that the publisher remains focused only creating a select number of AAA titles.

"Our industry more than ever is driven by hit products," Feder said. "Today, consumers are very careful with the way they spend their dollars. It's a worldwide challenging environment, and yet they still come out to spend for great entertainment as we've shown with the phenomenal success of Red Dead Redemption.

"Good games don't make it anymore, in fact, good is the new bad. Games have to be great, and there's no company like Take-Two to make the best games in the industry."

Red Dead Redemption could be this year's best-selling title.

Feder said Take-Two currently has 18 internally-owned million-unit selling franchises, and 29 titles that have each sold more than two million units worldwide. Since 2007 when Feder joined the company, Take-Two has launched seven new successful franchises.

In the digital content space, Take-Two believes DLC not only extends the life of its products but also bridges gaps between releases and keeps the brand fresh in gamers' mind.

Feder pointed to the recent release of Borderlands and its DLC as the perfect execution of the way a digital strategy should evolve. The downloadable game add-ons were sold both online and repackaged onto game discs to be sold at retail. Borderlands is also getting a Game of the Year edition this fall that includes all four add-on packs. Feder says the franchise now has seven different Borderlands products at retail and said they will continue to look at both physical and digital opportunities going forward for its franchises.

Take-Two outlined some its upcoming 2011 releases, including L.A. Noire, which Feder said "(has) got technology and gameplay that isn't available anywhere else." Feder also specified Duke Nukem Forever, Spec Ops: The Line, Top Spin 4, and XCOM as important 2011 titles.

Regarding the release of the next Grand Theft Auto, Feder said they are not ready to talk yet.

"Unfortunately, we've said everything we're going to say about Grand Theft Auto, I appreciate everyone's concern and interest as to when the game is coming out," he said. "We're not prepared to announce it today, but when we are, we'll let you know."

Grand Theft Auto IV has sold 15 million units worldwide.

Feder finished his talk by re-telling a story of how his son received a Wii when he was 9 years old, saying he's now in his early teens and is "too embarrassed" to bring his friends over because he doesn't have a HD system. He said he expects there is an entire generation of gamers who feel the same way and will migrate to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 when Move and Kinect are launched later this year.

"What Sony and Microsoft have really done with Kinect and Move, especially Move, is provide a bridge for guys that are used to playing the Wii system with the wand and bringing them over to a HD system," Feder explained. "The PS3 with Move, in my view, is the Wii HD system. I think maybe Mom isn't playing, but the kids are 'graduating,' and Microsoft and Sony have both provided a bridge to bring them over.

"I do believe Nintendo did widen the audience; I can't tell you how many people are going to 'graduate,' but I do believe they raised a generation of kids to play videogames that are now growing up and wanting a true HD experience."